Depth of Field

Depth of Field

Maya 2012 Tutorial

How to Control Depth of Field in Maya

Depth of Field for real cameras is controlled with the lens aperture. A larger aperture opening (i.e., f2.8) provides much less in focus than a smaller aperture opening (i.e., f22). In Maya we can simulate the depth of field by adjusting the depth of field camera settings. For more info on cameras, see topic Add a Basic Camera.

Step One

With several objects in your scene, add a camera.

Step Two

In the perspective view, choose Panels > Perspective and choose your new camera. The view now displays the scene from your new camera's point-of-view. Move the camera to frame the objects in the scene.

Step Three

The objects should be at different distances from the camera. In this example the objects are 10, 20 and 25 units from the camera.

Step Four

Select the camera object in the workspace or with the outliner (Window > Outliner). Open the attributes panel for the camera by clicking the Attribute Editor icon.

Step Five

Open the camera's Depth of Field category and click the Depth of Field checkbox.